Don’t be fooled by how pitiful and submissive Gu Sheng seemed in front of his father—when it came to everyone else, he was the very picture of a domineering CEO, every word making the final decision.
Ling Jing sent a message to Qin Jingzhou: “Gu Sheng probably only recently learned to talk gently with family. Don’t mind him being a chatterbox. Watching this wild stallion turn into a little lamb makes me quite proud, honestly.”
Qin Jingzhou replied with a smile, “Looks like he got a pretty generous reward.”
Ling Jing couldn’t help but giggle. “I’ve already set my sights on breaking through to the Divine Transformation Stage!”
The System chimed in during a lull, “The World Will is extremely satisfied! You only made minor improvements based on the current local tech, nothing like forcing seedlings to grow—so the native organizations and forces have had time to adapt and absorb the changes well. If they truly soar to the stars one day, the World Will is ready to offer another round of funding!”
Hearing that, Ling Jing teased, “We can even consider teaching them the basics of the star gate or near-light-speed engine, but… do you think the locals could grasp it?”
Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing, together with their own systems, joked and laughed, not taking Gu Sheng’s warning to heart at all.
Meanwhile, seeing that their father said nothing—likely a sign of tacit approval—Mi Xiaoxiao glanced at her childhood friend beside her. “Let’s be a bit more careful, just in case. I don’t think anything will happen, but let’s try not to cause trouble for Chief Wang and the others if we can help it.”
Gu Sheng smiled. “Exactly. Let the Officials close the net. No need to get in the way.”
As for Young Master Zhang, although he’d been sent to a sanatorium, his case was still under intense confidential investigation.
His crimes involved weapon manufacturing and smuggling. The suspects involved knew all too well that if found guilty, the best they could hope for was to rot in prison. Other than Zhang’s confidant, who sold his boss out for leniency without hesitation, the rest were as stubborn as stone.
That was where the trail went cold.
As for Zhang’s own testimony... The sicker he got, the more open he became when he was lucid, answering every question without holding back.
Yet the task force couldn’t treat everything he said as gospel, but used it for reference only—never taking his statements completely at face value.
All this meant that this major case was moving at a snail’s pace.
The task force was under considerable pressure, and just then... Mr. Nian returned to the country! Upon arrival, he immediately contacted his cousin, Doctor Nian, through family, and insisted on visiting Young Master Zhang together.
The mood in the task force at that moment was exactly like the classic “cheering” emoji that’s everywhere: Goodness, finally a new lead!
Just like that, Mr. Nian became the top priority on the task force’s watchlist.
Soon after, Mr. Nian sought out Ling Yu, who had been sent by her boyfriend to the research institute. Frankly, the task force hadn’t expected Ling Yu to actually surprise them—her statement wasn’t entirely truthful, but it still gave them several breakthroughs. At the same time, Mr. Nian himself was preparing to make his move.
He had a hired mercenary team with deep connections at his disposal, but he didn’t want to make the same mistake as Young Master Zhang. Having experienced kidnapping himself, Mi Xiaoxiao—now under heavy protection—wouldn’t be his main target.
After weighing his options, he turned his sights to Gu Sheng and Gu Xin. As for Gu Zhiyuan, he wasn’t even considered. After all, by his reckoning, he’d never go to great lengths for his own daughter’s boyfriend.
After coming clean to his family, Gu Sheng went home and had a good night’s sleep.
But the next morning, when he checked his phone, his mood soured again. Elizabeth had changed tactics: her words were honeyed as she claimed her father intended to leave most of his fortune to her. If she and Gu Sheng teamed up, they’d stand a real chance of becoming the strongest mega-conglomerate in this world.
Before Gu Sheng saw what his father could do with the mecha project, this suggestion might have tempted him. Now, though, he’d seen his father casually reveal just a handful of projects, and those alone could create a unicorn-grade mega-conglomerate!
He didn’t really want to reply, but thinking it through, he still left her a message. “Watching my dad, I truly get what it means for knowledge to be power, knowledge to change the world. Under my dad’s influence, I couldn’t care less about market capitalizations anymore.”
This rare moment of genuine candor—from Gu Sheng, no less—Elizabeth fully believed.
She quickly conveyed as much to her parents. The White Eagle Federation and Hua Country had already positioned their respective satellites overhead, but the images showed nothing unusual. The White Eagle Federation’s Officials saw no evidence of a secret weapon from Hua Country. As for any other advanced tech, they figured they could always steal, snatch, or trick their way in later—no need to worry just yet.
Objectively, it would be impossible to convince other “vampire” capitalists and lawmakers without real evidence, even if Elizabeth’s family was powerful.
In times like these, her half-Hua Country blood—and the child she was carrying—meant that everything she said could be explained a different way. She knew her father had done plenty to help her, and really, she couldn’t complain anymore.
After several video meetings, Elizabeth was utterly drained. Exhausted and frustrated, all she could think was, “To hell with it all…”
But Elizabeth’s burnout didn’t affect the actions of Mr. Nian or his associates back in Hua Country. If Gu Sheng couldn’t be pressured, there were always other candidates.
Meanwhile, Doctor Nian’s parents fussed over him every day, hoping he’d come home after work to keep them company. They promised not to push him anymore, and wouldn’t force him to return to his previous hospital job.
Doctor Nian took notes from these conversations and handed them in to his superiors.
His parents were, as ever, astonishingly ambitious for all the wrong reasons. Not that bright, but endlessly greedy.
After consulting him, his bosses allowed him to visit home under the protection of his colleagues, to see what his parents were really up to.
So, Doctor Nian went home.
His parents coaxed him into eating a meal, packed a pile of luggage for him, then saw him off with tearful eyes.
Doctor Nian didn’t touch a thing they’d prepared. Back at work, the pile went straight to the lab.
The lab staff stayed up all night to test everything and concluded: the shirts had been sprayed with an unusual substance—not sure of its exact effects, but almost certainly meant to trigger an old illness.
Upon getting the report, Doctor Nian could only laugh angrily. “A brand new drug! Never even heard of this one before.”
Without hesitation, he snapped pictures of the report and sent them straight to his parents.
They didn’t bother denying their actions, only kept complaining again and again about how underappreciated they were in the Nian family, how all their son did was scrape by on a meager doctor’s salary, and after he quit—everyone in the family just laughed at them. Their bottom line, as always: who could refuse when the other side was willing to pay so much?
Doctor Nian didn’t respond to any of their justifications. He simply asked, “Ever think about what will happen to me now that you’ve ruined me?”
His parents replied, “But you’re a campus doctor, working for the state. Even if you mess up, they won’t fire you.”
Doctor Nian couldn’t even muster up the anger anymore. He took a screenshot of that exchange and posted it on his Moments.
Then, without hesitation, he blocked his parents.
Naturally, the one who told his parents to tamper with his shirts wasn’t Mr. Nian himself.
However, upon seeing Doctor Nian’s social media post, they realized he was far too vigilant and not so easy to manipulate. In any case, what they’d planned wasn’t even about that.
Soon enough, their real move arrived: Old Master Gu gravely ill... both Gu Sheng’s maternal grandfather and Gu Xin’s biological father, in fact—both Old Master Gus severely ill at once.
This news immediately catapulted to the top of trending searches and even became the start-up push notification on several apps.
Even though Ling Jing had blocked most of the original host’s relatives, there was no way to stay completely in the dark at a time like this.
It’s worth mentioning that both Old Master Gus had their ancestral home in the same place: Gu village. But they’d both left the immediate family the way the generations were counted, so if you looked at bloodlines, they were hardly closer than strangers.
Gu Xin’s dad, also Gu Zhiyuan’s grandfather, was such a notorious playboy with endless money and gossip that even the most casual netizens could rattle off his list of wives and lovers.
Now, at over seventy, he had a stroke during a “lively” evening—netizens weren’t at all surprised.
But when the other Old Master Gu, the head of Gu Group, suffered a sudden heart attack after returning to the country and had to be rushed to the hospital, conspiracy theories were inevitable.
There really was a scheme at play, but it had nothing to do with ridiculous rumors about an ambitious son-in-law fighting for the family fortune.
Old Master Gu, after many hints from his grandson Gu Sheng, had a vague sense of what project his former son-in-law was in charge of. He’d even said so to the board: his ex-son-in-law had absolutely no interest in Gu Group.
Now that the old man was gravely ill, all calls from the hospital came via his assistant, as he was completely unconscious. Gu Sheng couldn’t help but worry.
Qin Jingzhou approved of Gu Sheng’s response—this Cheap Son had not lost his humanity.
But the original host and Old Master Gu had fallen out terribly years ago, so there was no need for any over-the-top performance of distress or sorrow. The same went for Ling Jing: at most, a slightly conflicted demeanor sufficed.
Chief Wang hurried over with the news. “Are you going to visit the two old gentlemen?”
Qin Jingzhou smiled, “I’ve just been keeping my head down, shuttling between the lab and home like a tortoise hiding in its shell. The other side can’t get to me, so of course they’d try something to force me out. But who can watch for thieves every day, all year? Might as well seize the moment to show off some new results.”
Thinking of the mechanical spider, which had already completed wind tunnel tests at breakneck speed, Chief Wang could hardly keep from beaming with pride.
But something like unveiling the Mecha Spider was not his call, so he hurried to ask the higher-ups. The leaders told him to wait a few minutes.
Less than ten minutes later, orders came down from the elders: approved.
Both Old Master Gus were staying at a private hospital on the outskirts of the Capital City.
So, with Qin Jingzhou’s whole family in tow, the convoy left downtown, and as they sped along the highway toward the private hospital... there was a sudden barrage of RPG fire.
The vehicles had been outfitted with special panels to withstand such impacts, more than enough for the mercenaries and Mr. Nian’s calculations. But their plan for the second round of assault was doomed.
Because what happened next—the scene would be burned into their memories forever!
A pitch-black metal behemoth dropped from the sky, and in less than a second, it unfolded eight long, mechanical legs full of industrial beauty. At the tips gleamed massive, impact-resistant panels that wrapped securely around the car carrying the Qin Jingzhou family.
At that moment, Qin Jingzhou opened the slightly warped car door and stepped out unhurriedly. He looked toward the place where Mr. Nian was hiding. “This... is my little pet project.”
And then, the mechanical spider above him raised its four pairs of arms, which rotated slightly to reveal eighty pitch-black launchers, all aimed squarely at the mercenaries.
Beneath the colossus of the mechanical spider, sunlight gilded both the machine and Qin Jingzhou in gold.
To many, he seemed almost... like a mechanical deity descending to earth.
The mercenaries hesitated only a moment before tossing down their weapons and dropping to their knees with their hands up.
Someone could even be heard muttering in awe, “...Mechanical ascension!”